“You would look so much more attractive if you lost a few pounds.” “You have such a pretty face.” “Why don’t you go to the gym?” “Have you tried weight watchers? Or Jenny Craig?”

 

 

Fat. A natural oily or greasy substance occurring in animal bodies, especially when deposited as a layer under the skin or around certain organs. This is a word used in the medical world almost everyday. In the rest of the world, it’s used as a negative term on how to describe people who are of a larger size. PHAT, P - H - A - T, pretty hot and tempting. A way to flip the negative word and help us boost our self esteem up to where we don’t feel completely crappy about ourselves and our appearance.

 

 

Growing up overweight my whole entire life, and being surrounded by skinny, white children of the suburbs, I was always felt like the token overweight puerto rican kid they liked to have in their group of friends. Bullying was a factor growing up because of the way I looked, the way I acted, the way I talked, etc. My weight continued to grow as the years went by, and I myself ended up becoming a bully because of all the hate I had inside of me. Sophomore year of college I hit 300 pounds, which led to a deep depression culminating in depression pills and seclusion from a lot of people. It finally came to a point where I decided I need a change, both mentally and physically.

Regardless of my 80 pound weight loss I still will forever see myself as a 300 pound self, causing an extreme case body dysmorphia. My way of helping myself get over it was to photograph myself, including other larger people as well, to help us all be happy with inner selves and outer appearance. Regardless of the struggles that we go through, inside or out, we should still be happy with ourselves and who we are as people. This project is to help us, and to help everybody see that we are comfortable with our bodies regardless of the negativity that we get because of our appearance.